By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

Some of the protagonists in the leadership crisis which has polarised the House into two factions had in a media briefing assured that the warring factions in the squabble have decided to embrace peace and had adopted the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara’s sharing formula of keeping to the spirit of federal character.

The spokesman of the Consolidation Group, Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin, had at a press conference last Saturday said as much that the two factions have decided to embrace peace for the interest of the country.

“In the interest of peace, unity and harmony in the House, Speaker Dogara reached out extensively to individuals and groups and committed lot of energy and time toward finding an amicable solution to the nagging issue.

Dogara and Gbajabiamila

“This became extremely necessary in order to actualise the needed peace and unity in the House so as to commence work for the Nigerian People and provide support for our President, Muhammadu Buhari.”

What seemed like truth to his words was backed by the presence of some henchmen of the Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila led Loyalist Group at the press briefing that day.

Among those present were Mohammed Monguno, Pally Iriase and Ado Doguwa who had played prominent roles in the Gbajabiamila led group.

Their presence was actually in line with the steadfast efforts of Speaker Dogara’s efforts in bridge building which had seen him offer princely positions in the House leadership to the Gbajabiamila group. However, his efforts were not totally received by the group on the fact that Dogara in his offer insisted on the adoption of federal character in the distribution of the four offices he offered to the Gbajabiamila group, a condition that the latter is unwilling to abide with as it would vitiate the projection of Gbajabiamila for the position of House Leader.

Dogara in insisting on the application on federal character had said that the four other offices of Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip should be shared to the Northwest, North-Central, Southeast and South-South, being that he, Dogara is from the Northeast and his deputy Yusuf Lashun is from the Southwest.

But as Gbajabiamila is from the Southwest the conditions offered by Dogara became a sticking point. However, a number of members who were formerly aligned to Gbajabiamila have recently begun to have a rethink with assertions that the speaker’s offer was rational. That point has helped to deplete the ranks of the Gbajabiamila group.

The efforts of the speaker nonetheless, the Gbajabiamila group responded on Sunday with their assertion that they remained adamant on their demands.

Rep. Nasiru Sani Daura speaking on behalf of the group at a press briefing said that nothing was resolved even as he acknowledged that some members of his camp have been lured by the Dogara camp.

Daura noted that in the elections of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, there was ‘an unsanctioned and unholy alliance’ between the members of the opposition parties in the House and the ‘39 disloyal members’ of the APC in the House that allegedly connived to produce the Dogara Speakership.

“To have a genuine agreement that is not tainted by the PDP, the Dogara group will have to first of all cut off the umbilical cord between them and the PDP and secondly engage in candid reconciliatory discussions with our group as a whole through our approved members under the leadership of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

“We know that this unholy agreement between the disloyal Dogara group and the PDP entail the deployment of PDP members and the disloyal APC group in strategic positions in the Structures and Committees of The House.
“The purpose of this strategic deployment is to enable the PDP to indirectly dictate the pace and activities of the National Assembly to the detriment of our party’s goals and objectives.

Indicative of the weakening of the group, some of the principal actors in the Loyalists Camp like Mohammed Monguno, Pally Iriase and Ado Doguwa among others were conspicuously absent in the briefing.

Their absence appears to be a confirmation of the crack within the ranks of the camp even when some of them including Iriase, Doguwa, Monguno attended the Saturday briefing where they announced the resolution of the crisis and their acceptance of the Dogara sharing formula.
Among those hopeful of a peaceful outing tomorrow is Rep. Philip Shuaibu representing Etsako Federal Constituency, Edo State on the platform of APC.

The former majority leader in Edo State House of Assembly and former President of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, told Vanguard that the factions in the crisis have decided to be flexible for the sake of peace.

“I can assure you that before we resume, the House crisis would have been resolved and we will be coming out strong and resuming in the House in one spirit and in unity to move the parliament forward in supporting the change agenda that we voted for in the last election.

“I can confidentially tell you that the issues will be resolved before Tuesday and we will be laughing into the parliament together.”
Collaborating him, Rep. Kolawole Babatunde representing Akoko Southeast and Southwest of Ondo State “I am sure by Tuesday when we will be resuming plenary again, the whole problem would have been resolved.”

Rep. Afe Olowookete, APC, Akure North/South Federal Constituency also told Vanguard, “We should be expecting a House that is resuming for business, a House that is resuming to set in motion the process of effecting change that we are expecting and Nigerians should be expecting a House that will now be discussing issues , focusing on issues that will better their lot and bring succour to the suffering Nigerians.

“The crisis you talk about is something that is surmountable and I believe that we will get over it, the whole issue will just be put behind us. I believe that one is not enough to hold us down and not being able to achieve all that I have mentioned. I am confident that the whole thing will be solved and we are already solving the crisis.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari was last night set to intervene into the crisis at a meeting between the two sides. The outcome of the meeting would be a major decider on how today’s sitting of the House would be. The meeting was yet to commence as at press time yesterday.